Producer Pitch to Amazon Prime Video Executives: Renew Gen V for Season 2
About 40% of all big-budget entertainment is based on comic books, with a majority of that 40% being superhero comics [1].
Do you have superhero fatigue from the latest Marvel blockbuster? Do you wish that the comically perfect and sanitized world of fantastically good superheroes fighting cut-and-paste evil villains was more down-to-earth and less out in space, more gritty and visceral, more relatable, more real.
Well, you are not the only ones. Superhero fatigue is setting in for audiences worldwide too. In 2019, Captain Marvel opened to $153m at the box office. Its 2023 sequel, The Marvels, opened to comparatively mere $47m, the lowest ever MCU opening [2]. Before the pandemic, superheroes ruled entertainment: Avengers: Endgame became the highest-grossing movie of all time with over $2.79b at the box office alone. However, arguably due to creative stagnation and brand dilution from releasing too many titles too fast, only one of three MCU titles released this year have broken even [3]. A telling fall from grace.
According to preeminent critic publication Roger Ebert, “Gen V is an antidote for superhero fatigue” - “superhero fatigue has finally hit…abysmal box office numbers and critical work about the failings of many franchises have begun to strike. But one IP remains in the good graces of fans and critics alike [The Boys/Gen V Universe]” [4]. The satirically self-aware critique that runs in the bloodline of The Boys universe that Gen V is bound to has resonated with audiences because it is the antithesis of the generic superhero film; it skewers the archetypes of the genre with outlandishly acerbic satire while having a pulse on the cultural zeitgeist with its down-to-earth ethos and fearlessness in tackling topical social issues.
In a time when audiences are hungry for socially relevant content that unfolds with breakneck action while skewering the favorite genre of yesterday, renewing Gen V for season 2 would be an indispensable way to build upon The Boys brand creatively and commercially, and is predestined to be a runaway success.
Gen V season 2 would build upon a strong commercial foundation laid by season 1 as well as 4 critically acclaimed seasons of The Boys which have only grown in popularity with each release. The last season of The Boys debuted to a new high of over 1 billion minutes streamed in its first week at number 4 on the Nielsen streaming charts, becoming one of Amazon Prime’s biggest shows to date and one of a handful to break the 1 billion minute threshold [5]. Gen V debuted to impressive numbers for a first-season spin-off at number 8 on the Nielsen charts with a stunning 374m minutes viewed with only 3 episodes out - for perspective, The Boys had 3 8-episode seasons out by the time it had its billion-minute debut and had a very dedicated fan base already attached. It is evident that this same fanbase latched onto Gen V with similar enthusiasm, making it Amazon Prime’s most-streamed show for weeks [6].
However, it is likely that Gen V also brought in new viewers to The Boys franchise, with one critic exclaiming that while it remains true to the ethos that made The Boys a global hit, it is also a show that “anyone can enjoy”. Furthermore, its effective and relatable portrayal of the college experience segmented the franchise to successfully target younger demographics, a critical win for a streaming platform that has largely catered to more mature audiences with releases such as Reacher, Bosch, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and has as such outperformed with older audiences but not younger segments.
Anecdotally, as a college student myself the series resonated strongly with me and the friends I watched it with. When Marie moved into her dingy gray dorm room in the pilot, I had an immediate flashback to my freshman year move-in day. While the pressure of being at an academically challenging institution presented in Gen V, and the existential crises the characters constantly face are all near-universal college experiences that university audiences will latch onto instantly; before holding onto dear life as wild drama unfolds.
This segmentation of the brand positions The Boys as focusing on targeting more mature audiences, while Gen V lures in desperately needed younger audiences that Prime Video has thus far struggled with. This is an effective strategy that builds the franchise by expanding its reach and cultural relevance to different market segments; renewing Gen V for season two expands the franchise’s marketability and is a sound business decision that promises exciting engagement with younger audiences.
Furthermore, the concern of brand dilution is unfounded, as Gen V is only the second release set in this universe, and there is very little competition in the largely unsaturated superhero satire space. Releases such as One Punch Man (anime), and Deadpool (movie) are the only loosely competing titles; both are in different mediums and arguably attract different audiences. Additionally, both of those franchises currently lie dormant, with One Punch Man’s last season airing in 2019 and Deadpool’s last release being in 2018 [7][8]. The marketplace is open to being dominated by this franchise, which has unique selling points in its social satire and bingeable format that make it stand out from other releases in the space.
Building on existing intellectual properties into franchises has been Hollywood’s dominant method of attracting audiences in recent years for good reason; extending an existing fanbase and intellectual property with widespread public exposure is much easier than summoning one through a completely original release. This strategy’s success is evident in the box office numbers for 2023; all 10 movies at the global box office have been based on franchises and 19 of the 20 top movies in the domestic market are based on franchises or well known IP. As an expansion of The Boys franchise, Gen V is a safe bet commercially, and has already demonstrated its ability to be a magnet for audiences [9]. In an entertainment business plagued by volatile audience demands and creative uncertainty, Gen V presents a reliable option to engage colossal worldwide audiences.
Furthermore, Gen V radically different setting and characters to The Boys offers fertile creative ground to grow the series. There is much more to explore in the developing characters at hand and the coming-of-age story that is at the heart of the show; in contrast to The Boys, which is a about vengeance, corporate greed, and the fight for justice, Gen V is more about youth facing the relatable existential crises of the collegiate experience. The fact that they are superheroes just makes it all the more exciting, building on the deeply emotional character development that unfolds. Gen V offers the opportunity to take the franchise in a thrilling and heartfelt new direction which will attract new audiences while retaining tonal consistency with The Boys which will captivate the franchise’s existing fanbase.
To illustrate this point, some creative directions which season two could go on are: a crossover season with The Boys as they combine to face Homelander and the Seven, the characters’ sophomore year as they fight the school to treat its students ethically, or confronting an evil secret student organization that is a deadly threat both to the campus and the outside world.
The possibilities are limitless.
In concert, new characters and thus new actors would help bring their audiences in, galvanizing the franchise further. Thus far, the actors featured in the show have millions of fans but are still relatively unknown to the general public, with the exception of Antony Starr with his Homelander cameo. With its new proven creative pedigree as a show with a golden 97% rating on rotten tomatoes, Season 2 offers the opportunity to be a tour de force for upcoming stars with larger audiences [10]. Could Jacob Elordi or Millie Bobbie Brown make a viral cameo as a compelling guest character that would elevate the show to a new level? Could Hayden Christensen make a devious new villain in Season 2 after his recent comeback in Ahsoka?
The commercial synergies that adding new talent in season 2 could create are enormous.
In a post-strike world where many streamers and studios are focusing on delivering quality not quantity especially when it comes to big-budget television, Gen V presents a relatively affordable (its set pieces are smaller than comparable shows like The Boys) way to capitalize on using a diamond of a franchise to exhilarate audiences with timely themes and action dynamite.
Additionally, in an age where Gen Z is proving challenging to engage with film/TV compared to older audiences due to the competition from short-form entertainment on social media and videogames, the golden opportunity of having a show with a proven record of resonating strongly with younger viewers is invaluable.
Overall, it is clear that renewing Gen V for a second season would be a creatively and commercially sound decision that would build on the The Boys franchise while attracting new younger audiences and extending the Amazon Prime Video consumer base/brand. In an entertainment industry dominated by franchises, it is evident that Gen V season 1 electrified enormous audiences to become one of Amazon’s most popular TV shows and would continue to be both critically acclaimed and commercially successful in season 2.
Renew Gen V to capture Gen Z, and inject a glorious dose of wildly entertaining and culturally relevant content to Amazon Prime Video that is guaranteed to be a blockbuster on the silver screen.
Citations:
https://www.the-numbers.com/box-office-records/domestic/all-movies/cumulative/released-in-2023
WP4 Reflection - Adapting my WP3 Review into a WP4 Producer Pitch
There were a number of considerations that went into adapting my writing project 4 out of a previous project;
Firstly, I wanted to make my WP4 as rooted in my personal experience as possible in a way that would be useful in my professional career. As I have been working as a film/TV Producer and aspire to work in the entertainment industry after graduating, I sought a way to make a previous writing project a professional practice experience. My WP3, a critical magazine review of new show Gen V, appeared to be a natural fit because I could reframe the analytical understanding of Gen V I expounded upon in WP4 as a producer pitch to Amazon Prime Video executives (the hypothetical decision-makers) to renew the series for a season 2. Inspired by Carolyn Miller’s examination of genre as defined by motivation, this appeared to be a suitable topic for my WP4 due to the similarity of the content but the change in purpose from studying whether a series is worth watching (and providing a recommendation based on this) to convincing entertainment executives to renew a series. Because I frequently face the task of crafting such pitches in my professional life, this was an exciting opportunity to break down the art of a pitch in a controlled academic context, and better understand its building blocks.
There were a number of changes that I needed to make to effectively transition my WP3 into a Producer Pitch. Firstly, I needed to adapt the structure of the pitch to a longer than usual (but feasible) form of 1500-2000 words. Pitches are very diverse, and a pitch of this length is possible to come across professionally. However, I needed to add more content and therefore evidence that Gen V should be renewed to meet this word count requirement. This was additive as it galvanized me to think about the show’s creative and commercial viability from many different perspectives, ultimately enriching my argument. Secondly, because this was a pitch rather than a review, I needed to focus on persuasion rather than analysis; structurally and in terms of the language used, I needed to keep my pitch exciting for the executives while also using statistical evidence to reinforce my argument. In other words, I needed to balance logos and pathos in an entertaining way that not only shows the executives why they should renew the show, but also make them feel like they want to renew it on an emotional level.
Furthermore, a clear departure from my WP3 was the inclusion of tangible data to support the element of my argument that this was a sound commercial decision; by contrast, my WP3 zeroed in on the creative values of the show and how they influenced the audience’s experience. However, the creative analysis I conducted in my WP3 was essential in my WP4, especially when it came to the most important part of my pitch: convincing executives that this show was both timely and timeless. To rephrase, I had to persuade the executives that Gen V was culturally relevant (therefore it would resonate with the audience) and could be effectively marketed, while also having strong creative fundamentals that meant it was a broadly compelling show. This highlights the intrinsic connection between strong creative property and leveraging it commercially; my argument for Gen V’s commercial strength was largely based on the creative prowess of Gen V as an “objectively” (at least, by screenwriting/acting fundamentals) a great show.
This thought process was a profoundly useful learning experience, because it encouraged me to consider a more thorough and comprehensive view of a pitch’s elements. To expand, it challenged me to think further about the possible reasons a show should be renewed. Additionally, it made me reflect on the relationship between intellectual property and a franchise: though they often seem inseparable, I began to understand better that for a franchise to have strength it must be based on a compelling intellectual property and not vice versa. A franchise is a brand built on an original intellectual property.
Overall, this was a fantastic learning experience that helped me grow as a writer and entertainment professional.